“How to GET OUT of Sin”
"For when Satan, who is completely armed, guards his palace, it is safe--" Luke 11:21-26
Illustration: A church had a man in the choir who couldn’t sing. Several people hinted to him that he could serve in other places, but he continued to come to the choir.
The choir director became desperate and went to the pastor. "You’ve got to get that man out of the choir," he said. "If you don’t, I’m going to go crazy. The choir members are going to quit too. Please do something."
So the pastor went to the man and suggested, "Perhaps you should leave the choir."
"Why should I get out of the choir?" he asked.
"Well, five or six people have told me you can’t sing."
That’s nothing," the man snorted. "Fifty people have told me that you can’t preach!"
Intro: Stuck is a terrible thing: Stuck in traffic…, Hung up in the mud…, Trapped by an addiction, Obsessed with a bad habit…, Caught up by sin. When you are “stuck in something” it feels like you are locked and chained to it.
Illustration: We have all experienced being in a busy restaurant where one person is trying to wait on a dozen tables. When that happens the waitress may be doing her very best to serve drinks, take orders, bring food to the tables, refill drinks and check to see if she can get you anything else.
Even though the server may be doing her very best…, There are so many people…, and so many orders, that she becomes hopelessly behind.
And when a waitress is that far beyond her capacity to handle a situation or cannot catch up.
That is when someone doesn’t get their drink, the orders get mixed up, someone in the party doesn’t get their food or when they get their food then it is served cold, you run out of drinks, and that leads to a frustrated and an angry “may I speak with the manger.”
Who are you in this illustration?
Are the person sitting at the table?
Now you are mad. My food is cold, my cup is empty, my dinner is ruined. I came here to have a nice evening with my friends, and we have had to wait, I am outraged, the party has been ruined, I am livid, I will never come back to this place, And I’m not leaving a tip.
And if you are not the type of person who would ever complain out loud…, Human nature is…, that you at least thought about it. Now you have all that outraged on the inside. Keeping anger and frustration and bitterness bottled up is just as bad because sooner or later you are going to explode, or have a stroke, or something, it is just a matter of where, when, and how, but it will come out!
Are you the waiter or waitress in this story?
There are usually only three or four people in your section.
You can handle small orders really well…, You can keep several things under control…, But when the tables are overcrowded, when people start yelling at you, when the dishes pile up and things start closing in on you, you are good at handling three maybe four problems, But problems don’t usually come in just three’s and four’s.
Illustration: The old saying is…, “When it rains…, it pours.”
When temptations come…, and sin knocks at your hearts door…, It is not just one lie, but you end up telling one lie after another…, to cover up the first lie, to make the last lie sound more truthful to keep from getting caught. Then it is not just one bad habit but you start doing something else that is wrong, you know it is wrong, but you keep on doing it anyway.
Then there is another temptation, and another temptation, and another the temptation, Before you know it what started out as a once in a while indulgence has now become a daily habit. What started out as an occasional treat has now become a daily addiction. What started out as spontaneous pleasure, has now become a ball and chain on your life…
A spur-of-the-moment temptation has now become a way of life. What was an extremely rare behavior has now become not just the daily routine, But just like an alcoholic who can not stop at just one drink. Or an addict who has to have his next fix. Or a person who every other word is a curse word. You have become unconscious of your sin. You have crossed the boundary of repentance and grace…, till you have returned to backsliding and sinner…
That lifestyle of sin happens to the unchurched. That lifestyle of sin happens to the people who are not Christians. [But it also happens to people who come to church 52 hours a year more often than they will admit it.]
Learn this lesson: Luke 11:21 says, "For when Satan, who is completely armed, guards his palace, it is safe--" Think about the words, “Satan who is completely armed.”
Satan is fully loaded…, He has an arsenal of weapons to use against us. He doesn’t just try one thing and when we resist it he gives up…, No, when one temptation doesn’t work he tries another and another and another. His trick, his tactic is to attack us on all side, to surround us with multiple struggles, numerous hardships, several trials all at once, to cluster and share the difficulties…, He likes to compound our problems.
The most common weapon Satan uses is deception. From the beginning of creation, in the garden of Eden… Genesis 3:1 says "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field” When we hear the word subtle we think of tricky, sly, sneaky…
But the word subtle also means: difficult to understand, complex, and confusing. What is the first thing that people often say when they are faced with a life changing trauma? “I don’t understand why this happened to me.”
That is the first weapon Satan will try to use against us.
I don’t understand it…, I am confused…, I find it hard to believe.
Now we are questioning God…, why did this happen. Now we are having a crisis of faith…
We start praying, but the devil asks us, are you sure God is listening?
We start reading the bible, but the devil causes us to ask “what does that verse of scripture really mean?”
Deception and doubt makes us start asking questions about God’s word and God’s goodness.
The next thing we feel is discouragement and defeat… We are looking at our problems more than we are looking at God, and we feel more like a failure and soon we are right back to that hopeless feeling of, “Why should I even try?” We are trapped by our problems. We are overwhelmed by our situation. We drift away from faith. And before you know it…sin has us.
Illustration: “A little boy walks up to the owl perched on a limb and says, “Mr. Owl.
How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?.”
And the owl says, “Let’s find out, and the owl grabs the candy sucker and opens up the wrapper and the owl begins to lick, one, two…, hooo hooo…, three, and he bites into it and says, “three.”
Few people can hold back…, once they have grabbed the candy and open the wrapper…, few people can resist biting into the tootsie roll. Once they have tasted sin, they cannot resist biting into it whole heartedly.
The book of James cautions us against excusing our sin. James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
God doesn’t want us to make excuses for our sins. But it’s so easy to blame other people!
“If they had not said what they said…, then I would not have said what I said.
If they had not done what they did…, then I would not have done what I did.”
It’s the weakness of our flesh, to try to blame God. To try to blame someone else. To try to make an excuse for our sin, but ultimately, we are responsible for our own self.
The first step in How to Get Out of Sin..., Is to admit we have a problem…, and we are powerless to over our impulses, obsessions, addictions and bad habits in our lives…, that things have become uncontrollable, and unmanageable by our own will power, our own strength, that Satan is armed and dangerous.
Satan guards his palace and it is safe, In other words, “no matter how much we desire to do what is good, we cannot carry it out.” Romans 7:18
Without Christ’s help sin is stronger than we are. And we are sometimes unable to defend ourselves from Satan’s attacks and temptations. That is why we should never try to defend ourselves against Satan’s attacks alone. Somebody needs to get a hold of this! Somebody has been trying to go it alone, by yourself. You have not told a friend about your problems. You have not asked your church to pray for you. You have not shared with your pastor your struggles. You have not even talked to Jesus about it…
Luke 11:22 "until someone who is stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings." Regardless of how great Satan’s power is…, Jesus is stronger! Jesus is stronger than my weakness!
I want you to turn to somebody right now and say it, “Jesus is stronger than my weakness!”
Write that on your bulletin and put it on the refrigerator. Get out your cell phone and text message that to yourself. Put that in your heart! Make that your attitude!
Illustration: Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Fear of an uncertain future, fear of not being able to meet our problems, fear of not being equipped to cope with life as we live it today. We need some of the old religious spirit which said, "I myself am weak but Thou art strong Oh Lord!" That was the spirit which brought people to this country, which settled it, which carried men and women through untold hardships, and which has given us our heritage of comparative ease and comfort."
(sung with soul and passion)
I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.
When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore
Refrain (everyone sings)
Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.
Jesus overpowers Satan. Jesus strips away the weapons of Satan, Jesus defeated Satan when Christ gave His life on the cross!
I want you to listen to our text one more time… "For when Satan, who is completely armed, guards his palace, it is safe--" until someone who is stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings."
What belongings to Satan that Jesus carries off?
That was me! Praise God that can be you!
We who once belonged to sin. But NOW no longer!
For we have been snatched from palace of Satan and carried to the Throne of God
We have been rescued and released from the chains of sin and set free from our bad habits and delivered from our poor past performance…, and purchased, sealed, and bought by the blood of the lamb…, we are now given a fresh start, we are born again!
But we need to understand what being born again really means. Let’s look at the rest of our text. "When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest.
But when it finds none, it says, ’I will return to the person I came from." Luke 11:24 (NLT)
"So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and clean." Luke 11:25 (NLT)
"Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before." Luke 11:26 (NLT)
Illustration: I don’t know about your house…, But I know about my house…,
I can clean my house this Sunday…,
And if I don’t do the dishes tomorrow…,
If I don’t pick up the laundry by Tuesday
If I don’t sweep the floors again Wednesday
If I don’t take out the trash on Thursday
If I don’t dust on Friday
And if seven unexpected visitors drop in on Saturday…,
By this time next Sunday…, my house is going to be dirtier and a bigger mess than it ever was!
Learn this lesson: A clean house doesn’t last long…, unless you keep working to keep it clean!
People used to joke…, about taking a bath ever Saturday whether you needed it or not.
Let me tell ya…, this past week…, the temperature has been over 100 degrees every day.
I don’t care how clean and nice you smelled on Monday morning when you went to work…,
Anyone who hasn’t had a bath all week. You stink!
The Devil goes out into the desert…, It is hot out there…, the only water is his own sweat and perspiration. He sweating…, and stinking…, And the Devil says, “you know I believe I will go back…, only this time I’m going to take seven more temptations with me.
1. I’m going to take anger with me.
2. I’m going to take discouragement with me.
3. I’m going to take jealousy
4. Bitterness,
5. Lust
6. Selfishness
7. Pride
With me…, any other sin that wants to tag along…, I know where there is a house that is empty. I know where there is a soul that went to church on Sunday, But hasn’t been swept all week!
Hasn’t knelt to pray,
Hasn’t read the bible
Hasn’t been back to worship since last Sunday Morning
Hasn’t visited the sick
Hasn’t visited the imprisoned
Hasn’t helped feed or clothe the needy
Hasn’t helped the widow
Hasn’t had Christian fellowship
Has done no works of mercy
Has done no acts of kindness…
I know where there is an empty soul that is just hanging on by a thread…
I know where there is an empty soul that has lost its joy, happiness, peace…,
I know where there is soul that instead of being filled with the Holy Spirit…,
Is tired, and discouraged, and broken…
The Devil said to his seven evil spirit friends…, I believe if we go back…, we can enter this person, and live there again, for a long time.
Everyone is tempted. And everyone has given in to temptation. As Paul said in Roman 3:10, “There is none righteous, no, not one.”
When I go through the plan of salvation, I am reminded that people are born with this terrible problem of sin. We are sinners by nature. "But every person is tempted…, and enticed." James 1:14 (KJV)
It is not enough to just be empty of sin in your life. Because an empty place begs to be filled. You life will be filled with something. It needs to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
Illustration: The big fish is lured by the bait…, “Oh, that looks like a delicious little minnow to eat. A snack on a kabob, a meal on a string. But inside that tasty little minnow is a sharp hook.
Some fish do get away…, some fish bend the hook or break the line…, But oh how difficult it is to get out of sin once you are lured in…, once you are hooked…,
So, how do you get out of sin?
Admit we have a problem. The most important thing we can do to escape the sin trap is admit that there are some temptations, and trials, and problems that you are not about to get out of own your own. Say, “I need Jesus Christ…, who gave his life on the cross for my salvation.”
Satan has many weapons but Christ is stronger. Don’t try to make excuses for your sin.
How do you get out of sin?
You can clean up your life but it want stay clean unless you work on your relationship of faith.
God made a promise…, God made a plan…, To deliver you from the bondage of sin. To keep you out of hell…, and strongholds of Satan. To give you freedom and eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sing "Grace Greater Than Our Sin." United Methodist Hymnal 365.
